Addictive
£10.99 cassette/£15.99 disk
081 804 8100
Reviewer: Stuart Campbell

As it says on the box of this game, '1 WAR WUNDERBAR, 2 WAR SCHRECKLICH UND 3 IST DIE ENDGULTIGE HERAUSFORDERUNG!' What? Oops, been reading the German instructions by mistake. What it actually says is '1 WAS WONDERFUL. 2 WAS TERRIFIC, 3 IS THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE'. What could they be talking about? The Alien movies? The Popeye games? The World Wars? (They're talking about the Football Manager games, stop being so ruddy stupid. Ed)

Well, blimey. Another Speccy football management game, eh? Just what we needed. What next, I wonder? Football Manager Dizzy?

Football Manager 3, the latest in a long line, has had nearly ten years to take the best aspects of hundreds of other footy management games and turn them all into one indisputable, unbeatable classic. What's it come up with? Well, you get to pick your team, and choose which style they play in. You can buy other players, by ringing up their manager on the telephone and offering him lots of money - realistic or what? You can train all your players individually, so that some of them are really good and some of them are really crap (or something). You can, er, switch on a desktop computer and, um, see what games you've got coming up in the next few weeks. Or - AHA! - you can actually play a game and watch the action unfold in from of your eyes! Brilliant! Let's get on with it, then!

SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS

Oh dear. The match sequence in Football Manager 3 consists of a tiny little rectangular pitch occupying about half of the screen, (with no centre circle or penalty-box arcs, natch) covered in little stick players even smaller than the ones in the original Football Manager, which all lurch around colour-clashing horribly. This is accompanied by a fantastic commentary along the lines of 'Number Six has the ball', 'Number Ten goes in for the tackle', 'Innes shoots', 'Graeme souness gets sent out from the dugout' and all that kind of thing. It is, frankly, crap.

But, hey, it's not all bad. Apart from the rubbish match sequence, Football Manager 3 is all right, as far as this kind of thing goes. It's not quite up to the standard of Football Manager 2, to be honest, with vastly inferior presentation and graphics, and lots of hanging around while the computer thinks and doesn't seem to be working properly. Still, it's got enough statistics and stuff to be passably realistic, without having so many that you get completely lost in a maze of menus and totally bored. The front end leaves a lot to be desired, but I did really like the way it said 'Hello!!!' as its program name when it loaded up.

So, swings and roundabouts, really.

Label: Addictive
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £10.99 Tape, £15.99 Disk
Reviewer: Philip Lindey

Want some verbal abuse? Want to be insulted and belittled by the press? Feel like signing deals, chewing cigars and slicing the half time lemons for a team of your choice? From behind your desk you must select a team, organise the training schedules of your minions, but and sell players and organise times for the players to see the physiotherapist. Yes, the fun never stops in Football Manager 3.

The game is controlled by keyboard or joystick. You select your own keyboard controls for; up, down, left, right and two 'fire' buttons. One of these work as 'Enter' (used to access an item), the other takes you 'back' a step.

There are eight items represented on the office' screen; the door (exit stage left!), team training (represented by a framed picture of the team) and the board of directors (yet another framed picture of baldies on the wall). In front of you, on your desk, a telephone, a sheaf of memos, a diary and a computer, complete the list.

Footie Manager 3, like all football management sims, is a game of judgement rather than joystick juggling skill as you plan your team's career and guide the club, with some clever wheeling and dealing, to the top. Don't forget your copy of the Sun mind you!

Each player's skills and abilities are represented by a bar chart, by pressing on a particular skill and then pressing the 'right' directional key, you increase the amount of training that player undergoes in that particular skill. It is a slow job going through the whole team, picking out the particular skills needed by each individual player but this is the only way to field a tailor made (get it? Tailor... Taylor? Aggggh!) team.

Sorting out the finances of the club is also a big job, you bgin with an overdraft facility from the bank, with which to by players. But remember that wages and expenses have to be paid too, so you mustn't leave yourself short. One of the best ways to make money is to buy cheap players, train them up to increase their value, and then sell them at a higher price. (It's slightly more glamorous than cattle farming).

In the filing cabinet are the club's records. There are files on each plater, details of his contract with the club, its expiry date etc. Forgetting to renegotiate a contract will result in the player disappearing from your team. If this happens you will be sacked for fielding an illegal team.

There are also records detailing the clubs performance, matches played, scores, and its position within the league. There are other sources of information, on the desk is a pile of memos for your attention, these are from various people, eg. the trainer, the talent scout etc.

Graphics are o.k. But there's no sound to speak of. There is quite a lot of detail in Football Manager 3 but until you get used to it, the forwards-and-backwards menu system can get a little confusing.

Although this title breaks no new ground in terms of layout or presentation I'm sure many fans of football sims will want to add it to their collection. However, for what it is, Football Manager 3 does seem a bit pricey.

ALAN:
I'm not a fan of football sims at the best of times, so, being a practical lad I would spend the £10.99 on a brand new football and cut out the middle man. You gotta be seriously hooked on sims to consider this game!